66o
VOVNg’s TRAVELS IN FRANCE.
15 to 40 pefetlos ; I have not met any where in France with vineyards let, for they areall in the hands of the proprietors. Land in general lets from 15 livres to 35 iivres.
Come to a great cultivated vale, but no water, or but little ; maiz, fix inches to twofeet high, in fquares, on land from which the corn has been cleared; the account wereceived. 1 fufpe£t the highefl to be previoufly fown in a bed, and tranfplanted as foonas the land was ready to receive it; millet alfo after corn ; the foil a rich black loam.
Pafs Malgra. Vale two or three miles broad'; vines and cultivation; A great dealof fine maiz, called all over Catalonia Milia. I found the fame name for it afterwardsin Languedoc, where they fpeak the fame language as the Catalans . Lets for 15 livres,one with another. Maiz is fown, grain by grain, after corn; the foil a granite fand.A thick woodland, all inclofed. Pomegranates make very fine thick hedges. Muchwood and vines—no watering nor fallows—houfes fcattered every where—foil fandy,but good. Very bad ploughing—cream-coloured oxep. Inclofures become (till thicker.Poplars planted over fome fields, and vines trained to them, and from one to another:reading accounts of this hufbandry in books, I had formed an idea that it muff be fm-gularly beautiful to fee feftoons of vines hanging from tree to tree, but there is nothingeither pleafing or ftriking in it, and the wine is never good for want of fun, and owingto its being dripped on by another plant, which robs it alfo of its nourifhment; corn isfown under them, which is damaged ftill more. Broad flat vale, formed of the ruins ofgranite.
Pafs for feveral miles in a vale, where the country has different features. It is allinclofed—much oak—a few vines, trained up trees. Soil bad. Two poor bits of mea-dow I noted, for they were the firft I had feen bad in Spain . Many fields over-run withfpontaneous rubbifh. Maiz and haricots cultivated here together, as in many otherquarters. Some fcattered houfes. Much wafte on gentle hills that have vineyards onthem, and would all yield that produftion, if planted. A floping hill of>granite fand,.well cultivated. Vines, trained to oaks and poplars, with many fruit trees. The priceof wheat here is 15 or \ 6 pefettos , for the 34 quarterons, weighing five and a half quarters*and each quarter twenty-fix pounds; this is one hundred and forty-three pounds ofwheat, colling 1 pejettosj w'hich will be 50s. the Englifh quarter. Barley half theprice.
Come to a great wafte,. fpreading over many hills, for feveral miles; to northerneyes a moll extraordinary fcene. It is a thicket of aromatic and beautiful floweringflirubs, with very little mixture of any that are common with us. Large fpreadingmyrtles, three or four feet high, and covered with their fweet-fcented flowers, jefla-rnines, bays, and other fhrubs, with which we crowd our fhrubberies, are here worfenuifances than heath with us, for we faw' neither fheep nor goats. View after this alarge plain, bounded by mountains, and fcattered every where with houfes—a gooddeal of cultivated inclofure ; but on entering find much wafte in this plain. Vinesnow form hedges, and furround the fields. Come now to cattle, of which we have hi-therto feen very little; faw feveral fmall flocks of ftieep, mod of them entirely black,fome w'ithout horns, others with, and curling round the ears. All the oxen cream-coloured, except two, with the necks and end of their tails black ; all well, made, andin fine order. Large breadth of corn, and fome fields left apparently, to grafs- I fufpectfallows.
The country ftill thickly inclofed, fome pieces of grafs, and a few of meadow, whiohare not burned, hot as the climate is. More cattle here than we have yet feen. Theykeep their fheep and hogs (all black) together, and the girls, he. who attend them fpinhemp.
Pafs